Between the musical montage of the Harrigan chieftains’ patrol of their territory and the white-knuckle tension of Frankie’s capture of Paul and Harry, this episode breezes by. But it’s also a fine one in which to stop and smell the roses, from the complimentary brown color schemes of Seraphina and Bella’s expensive clothes to the softly psychedelic glow of the casino lights. There’s plenty of nasty gangster business, if that’s what you’re here for — a guy gets his hand dipped in a deep fryer, with his feet to follow — but there’s also the lingering sense that Harry is nearing his breaking point.
Was he really that confident about his chances with Frankie, or was he wiling to commit suicide by gangster? Or was it neither, and this was simply a Hail Mary, a last desperate ploy with no guarantee of success that just happened to work out in his favor?
I like having these kinds of questions about the protagonist of my rock’em sock’em gangster TV show. If you’ve ever watched Paramount+’s own Tulsa King, for example, you’ve seen how abysmally stupid this genre can get. MobLand is always several degrees smarter and crueler than it needs to be, while remaining a riot to watch.
I reviewed this week’s MobLand for Decider.
Tags: decider, mobland, TV, TV reviews